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Housing developer must pay for Pine road improvements
Thursday, April 01, 1999 By Michael Logan, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
A developer has failed to overturn Pine's requirement that he pay to upgrade municipal roads.
The state Supreme Court last week declined to review lower court rulings against Patrick Minnock of Ross, who proposed 189 single-family homes on 166 acres along Mount Pleasant and Dean roads.
Pine supervisors approved the plan in 1995 but required Minnock to improve the roads to accommodate increased traffic.
Minnock balked and the matter went to court.
In 1997, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge James H. McLean ruled in the township's favor, as did Commonwealth Court the following year. The high court last week let those rulings stand by declining to hear an appeal.
Gary Gushard, Pine's solicitor, said the disagreement centered on what constitutes "off site" and "on site" road improvements under the township's transportation impact fee program.
Because Mount Pleasant and Dean roads abutted the proposed development for about 1.5 miles, Gushard said the township viewed work along those portions of road as "on site" improvements - meaning the developer had to pay.
Estimates put the price at $500,000 to $1 million, although a detailed cost analysis was not performed.
Minnock said he shouldn't have to shoulder the entire cost because Pine owns the roads and others would benefit from their upgrade. "The roads that service our plan serve many other plans," he said.
Minnock saw the work as an "off site" improvement, payable from the township's transportation impact fee fund, to which developers contribute when they build in Pine.
Had the road work been considered "off site," Minnock would have been required under the municipal code to pay about $100,000, although Gushard said Minnock had agreed to pay more.
Courts ruled that Minnock was obligated to pay transportation impact fees in addition to being responsible for the Mount Pleasant and Dean road upgrades.
Jeff Pierce, a land use consultant who helped craft the 1990 state legislation that allowed municipalities to set up impact fee programs, said many have been "gun-shy" about adopting them.
He said the legislation doesn't clearly define "on site" and "off site" improvements, and some municipalities may fear litigation if they adopt it.
Pine, Cranberry in Butler County and Penn Township in Westmoreland County have been the only municipalities in southwestern Pennsylvania to adopt transportation impact fees, Pierce said.
With the latest ruling, some townships may take a second look, he said.
The purpose of impact fee programs was to give more leverage to municipalities in assigning costs for road improvements, Pierce said.
"This decision indicates that the pendulum is swinging back toward the townships' rights," he said.
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